5/31/13

Tampa Teen Charged as An Adult With A Hate Crime After Shooting Transgender Woman

Tavares Spencer is charged with attempted murder, robbery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. The charges carry enhanced penalties because officials are considering this a hate crime.

Spencer met the victim Coco McDonald, at a party April 9th and invited her to meet a week latter at 5014 N Winnie St. in Tampa. The house was vacant and the meeting turned out to be a trap. Coco told Bay News 9 "I tell anyone, whether its platonic, intimate, I let everybody know because I'm not ashamed of who I am. I'm very confident about my sexuality,” said McDonald. "I'm transgender, if you really don't want to have any dealings with me I understand, but I'm just letting you know so there's no confusion."

Coco makes it clear that she makes no bones about being transgender, a fact that is at odds with the the majority of news media articles which inevitably state she is a man and imply that she tricked Spencer into meeting her believing she was a 'real' woman.

*Trigger Warning: There are many transphobic media reports about this, some that I have used as sources that blatantly use problematic verbiage to revictimize Coco. The embedded video from ABC was the only one I could find that made any attempt at using the AP Style Guide in stark contrast to the highly problematic accompanying online article TPD: Tampa teen charged with a hate crime after shooting a man in woman's clothing

WTSP reports "Police say Tavares was already in jail, arrested for an unrelated crime when they charged him."

"A warrant enabled them to check his cell phone, which they say contained text messages making defamatory statements about Coko's lifestyle transgender status. The messages were sent within an hour of the crime."

"It was enough to charge him with a hate crime... for which he did not seem sorry, say detectives."

"He wasn't willing to make a lot of statements, but my detectives were taken by his lack of remorse in this incident. He showed very little to none," said Sgt. Michael Stout.

5/30/13

Ground Breaking Kenyan Transgender Short "HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MARIA"

kujitambua na kujiamini.

Maria a transgender woman from Kenya explains how HRT and transitioning has affected her saying  "I feel complete now, I'm complete now I know I am, complete, complete. Her movie, the first in a series about transgender people in the east Africa premiered today at the 4th Regional Changing Faces Changing Spaces Conference in Naivasha, Kenya.

The conference brought together activists from the sex worker and LGBTI movements in East Africa, as well as activists working in other regions of Africa, and allies in the health and legal professions, human rights activists and organisations, and donor partners working in the Region (Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi).

For the past 4 months Scottish film maker Tristan MG Aitchison has been working under commission documenting the transgender and intersex community of Nairobi. Six brave members opened up and shared their experiences of being transgender and intersex in Kenya - Living on the edge of the edge of society.



Learn more about at transgender kenya.com